NIU’s anthropology group literally struck gold in Sicily this month.

According to anthropology professor Michael Kolb, who leads the trips every year, the group found a Hellenistic Greek gold lion earring dated to third or fourth century B.C..

“It is a production of the Greek colonies of southern Italy,” Kolb said via e-mail.

Kolb describes the earring as a twisted gold hoop about 2.4 centimeters wide with a beaded wire filigree collar.

“The body is formed by gold tubes spiraled together, tapering to a point just before the lion’s mouth. It weights about four grams of high carat gold,” he said. “It was found within a Hellenistic period house floor, probably dropped by its original owner and never recovered.”

Student Leah Mollin-King found the earring.

Alongside the earring a variety of domestic debris was collected. These include wall stones and roof tiles from the building.

The earring was sent in for restoration in a lab in Italy.

“It will be the center piece of NIU’s contribution to a major museum exposition to be held concurrently with the upcoming preliminary races of the Americas Cup to be held in Trapani, Sicily, in September and October. The exposition will open [Sept. 23],” Kolb wrote in his e-mail.

Kolb explains that the lion’s head design at the end of the earring is a typical eastern Greek design which was implemented in the western colonies of Magna Grecia, which is now Sicily.

“The condition is exceptional, and it is a quite rare piece. Maybe only 15-20 are known in Italy. I would put it in a value range of $1,500 – $5,000,” Kolb said.